Cairo Opera House
The Egyptian Opera House, or the General Authority of the National Cultural Center, opened in 1988, is located on the land of Al-Jazeera in Cairo in its new building, which was built with a grant from the Japanese government to its Egyptian counterpart, the house was built in the Islamic style.
This great cultural edifice, which opened on October 10, 1988, is considered to be the alternative to the Khedive's Opera House, which was built by Khedive Ismail in 1869.
The Khedivial Opera House, which burned down at dawn on October 28, 1971, had a capacity of 850 people, and there was a place dedicated to important personalities that house was characterized by grandeur and luxury.
Naming
The new opera house was officially opened in 1988 under the name "Cultural and educational center", so named because the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) does not grant subsidies for entertainment projects and grants them only for development, health, and educational projects.
In 1989, a decision was issued to form the center with its current name "National Cultural Center" as a public body that includes the Egyptian Opera and the artistic House of Music "operatic and heritage ensembles".
Geographical location
The National Cultural Center "New Opera House" is located in the southern part of Zamalek island, located between the two branches of the Nile in downtown Cairo, and within walking distance of cultural and social monuments, most notably the sculptor Mahmoud Mokhtar Museum, the statue of the leader Saad Zaghloul, Freedom Park, Al-Ahly club and Umm Kulthum Street. All of them are spaces for daily living for Egyptians.
The unique location of the building in the southern part of the island, the abundance of the Nile waters in this area, and the abundance of trees in the surrounding park made it possible for this place to be an excellent natural content for the new opera house.
The facade of the main entrance of the opera house overlooks the statue of Saad Zaghloul at the entrance of the Qasr Al-Nile bridge, the tribal side overlooks Tahrir Street, the waterfront overlooks the Al-Ahly club, and the western (rear) facade overlooks jambalaya Street (formerly Umm Kulthum).
Design
Exterior design
The Japanese government commissioned the consulting company "Nikken Seki" to design the building and supervise its implementation. The company has conducted a thorough study on the Old Opera House, which had about 800 seats, and the company has also conducted some detailed studies on Egyptian theaters and modern world theaters, and based on these studies, the company submitted its proposal on the design as well as the spaces and needs for the new opera house. The plot of land on which the project was built was an obstacle to the design due to its irregularity, so the company put forward several design proposals until the building settled on this final form, which was designed by Japanese architect Koichiro Shikida, and he designed it in the modern Islamic style according to the requests of the Egyptian side, which included a number of engineers specializing in architectural, plastic and technical aspects. The Egyptian side, represented by this technical committee formed for this purpose by the Ministry of Culture, provided some guidelines and directives to reach the appropriate form of the overall design, especially the shape of the dome and the contracts so that they look homogeneous with the overall shape of the project, in addition to its suitability for the Egyptian environment built over its lands. The domes have been placed to give the project an Islamic character, as well as brides on the edge of the building from above, and the emptiness of the large dome does not appear from the inside, it is mounted on iron trusses. In order not to cause any visual obstacles to the surrounding buildings, the new opera building was built as low as possible, as the designer tried to scale the heights from the building of the Museum of Modern Art (the lowest height) to the planetarium (as the highest height on the site), where the dome covering the entrance represents the lowest level in height, and then the height in the main hall was graded until he reached the maximum height of the building in the large dome above the stage (42,5 from the ground floor level).
The designer also took into account in his design the climatic changes of the Egyptian environment, which is characterized by strong sunlight in the summer and the presence of strong temperature differences between the afternoon and night, so the heat-repellent properties of the external walls and ceilings were stimulated, the size of the windows was reduced as much as possible, as well as an internal garden was made and semi-open spaces were secured to provide ventilation in natural ways, in addition to designing an outdoor theater with a capacity of 600 wheelchair suitable for summer performances and seminars. As for the building materials used, it was taken into account that local long-term building materials were used as much as possible, for example, local Egyptian artificial stone was used in the external walls to reduce the financial burden of maintenance operations in the future.
Internal and external processors
The interior and exterior treatments were characterized by a high degree of luxury and simplicity at the same time, artificial stone whiteness was used in the processing of external facades, which the designer tried to localize using necklaces, brides, ornaments, small longitudinal openings, and Windows held on the perimeter of the small concrete dome covering the ceiling of the entrance foyer.
As for the internal treatments, marble and stucco decorations were used in the treatment of the floors and walls of the main reception halls, as well as for the external corridors, covered with a set of contracts. The training halls were also treated at the highest technical level, where the floors of the halls were installed from wood to protect the dancers and their ability to absorb sound, while the walls were provided with sound insulators mounted on glass wool. All the necessary materials and materials were imported from Japan except marble from Italy and wood and flooring from Sweden.
Internal zoning
The functional elements of the building were distributed over seven floors (levels) so that the main elements of the project were located along the main axis and the services were distributed over two wings to the right and left. The ground floor occupies two levels and consists of an entrance lobby, an entrance hall, an indoor garden, an open-air theater, reception halls, the main hall with a height of four levels, the junior Hall, an art gallery, an administration, and staff rooms, in addition to theater services such as artists ' rooms, training rooms, warehouses, toilets, etc. As for the basement, it contains mechanical and supplementary service rooms.
The first floor includes the first level of the balcony, the space of the main hall, a waiting lobby, two museum exhibition halls, an art gallery, a music library, a workshop, rehearsal, and study rooms, control rooms, acoustics, and the management of other theater services. While the second floor includes the second level of the balcony and the main lounge branch, the third floor includes the third level of the balcony, a reception hall, and a VIP room. The sixth and seventh levels of the building include the fourth level of the balcony and some technical services.
Origin and establishment
The idea of building a new Opera House began as an alternative to the Khedive's Opera House, which burned down at the dawn of the twenty-eighth of October in 1971, where the Council of Ministers met three days after the fire and approved the amount of 200 thousand pounds to proceed with the construction of the new opera house. In May 1972, Mohammed Abdulkader Hatem, deputy prime minister for Culture and information, laid the foundation stone on the island's land in front of the Revolutionary Command Council building, but it was not implemented. President Anwar Sadat also expressed on more than one occasion his interest in rebuilding the opera and that the necessary financial funds would be provided for its reconstruction, but this did not happen.
During that period, there were many projects submitted by foreign expertise houses to establish the Opera House, where a German expertise House offered to build the opera at a cost of 60 million pounds, and one of the expertise houses in Austria and some investors offered an integrated commercial cultural project in which Egypt would not bear any costs, provided that Austria would exploit the profits of the project for 35 years, after which it would pass into Egyptian ownership. The last of these proposals was an Italian project that was presented to Abdul Hamid Radwan, the minister of culture at the time, but all these projects were not crowned with success to see the light of day.
At the beginning of the Eighties, Mr. Yusuke Nakai, Ambassador of Japan to Egypt, consulted with the officials of the music sector at the Egyptian Ministry of Culture about the possibility of allocating one of the grants provided by Japan to Egypt in the construction of an educational cultural center. these consultations were a preliminary beginning that took its way to implementation during the visit of President Mubarak to Japan in March 1983. On the occasion of this visit, and in support of cultural relations between the two countries, the Japanese government decided to provide a non-refundable grant of 6 billion and 485 million Japanese yen (33 million US dollars) to build a new opera house in Cairo as a project (building an educational and Cultural Center).
In August 1983, the Japan World Cooperation Organization (JICA) held talks with an Egyptian working group, chosen by the Minister of Culture, Dr. Abdel Hamid Radwan, to implement the project. Following these discussions and studies, which lasted until the end of the first quarter of 1985, an agreement was reached on the interior and exterior design of the building, which was designed by Niken Seki company at the requests of the Egyptian side, and the design was characterized by a modern Islamic architectural character. It was also agreed that the Japanese side would establish the house with its contents from the planned Grant with their knowledge and that the Egyptian side would demolish the buildings objecting to the project at the expense of the Ministry of Culture, provided that the project would be completed in full within 36 months.
On March 31, 1985, President Hosni Mubarak laid the foundation stone for the Opera House on the island, and in May of the same year, the Japanese company Kajima began construction and implementation of designs. The construction and construction work was completely completed on March 31, 1988, that is, 34 months after the start of work. About 30 Japanese engineers and administrators participated in the implementation of the project with about 500 Egyptians, all of them workers except for six engineers.
Opening
The new opera house was opened on the tenth of October in 1988 in the presence of President Hosni Mubarak, Japanese Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, the younger brother of the emperor of Japan, and King Salman bin Abdulaziz, who was then the Emir of Riyadh. That night, Cairo witnessed a great official, cultural, and artistic celebration, as groups of percussionists and cavalry bands who carried colorful flags spread in formations starting from the first bridge of the Nile Palace from Tahrir Square to the end, and police students surrounded the Hall of the statue of Saad Zaghloul overlooking the opera and candles and candlesticks were lit inside the Opera's inner square. Amid these processions, Mubarak advanced to cut the ribbon and unveil the memorial plaque, and leading Egyptian and international musicians, artists, intellectuals, and creative people gathered around him, along with the guests of the celebration, including ministers, princes, ambassadors, and political figures. The poet Mamoun El-Shenawy, the author of the opening anthem, "The Anthem of Jihad," was not invited, nor was Najib Mahfouz, who received the Nobel a few days later.
The program of the opening ceremony, directed by the artist Karam Motawa, started with the launch of 800 flames of fireworks in the sky of Cairo and began with the opening song "Fanfar" by Sherif Mohieddin, performed by a group of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra led by Maestro Mustafa Nagy, followed by the Republican peace and without a break led by Maestro Taha Nagy, to begin then the first paragraphs of the concert with the Japanese program, where Japan participated in the opening ceremony with Japanese Kabuki performances for the first time in Africa and the Middle East, and visited Cairo these performances are a band with several about ٥۰ a person headed by the main actor Nakamura tomijiro V, including ۱٥ Supporting actor and singer, along with a technical and administrative staff of the theater. The band performed a musical and dance play entitled "Shunkan", the dance" Fuji Musume "(Fuji Musume), i.e." The Virgin of wisteria plants", and also presented the comedy show" Poh Shibari " from the kyujin theater.
This was followed by the Egyptian program, in which he presented music from the heritage of the music of Umm Kulthum band led by Hussein Junaid, during which Mush performed "She Sang for his flight" by Sheikh Mahmoud Sabih, and"the maidens of Fancy" from the "operetta Hoda" by Sheikh Sayed Darwish, after which he played a solo on the piano by Ramzi yes, then the Conservatory Orchestra led by Maestro Ahmed Saidi played the first movement of Beethoven's Triple Concerto, then the "anthem of jihad" by musician Mohammed Abdulwahab after it was distributed by Maestro Mustafa Nagy with the Australian orchestra, Nevin Allouba, and Sobhi Badir sang, and finally the Cairo Opera Choir led by Maestro Youssef El Sisi presented the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. On the sidelines of the opening, an exhibition of 30 works by the Italian artist Umberto Mastroianni was opened in recognition of the Italian role in the construction of the ancient Opera, where the Italian architects Pietro Avoscani and Rotsi designed its building, and it was opened with the play "Rigoletto" by Giuseppe Verdi on November 1, 1869. The exhibition also included 29 art posters signed by international Italian artists representing thirty years of cooperation between the Egyptian Opera and the Italian opera.
The opera currently includes 3 theaters: the big one has 1200 seats, the small one has 500 seats, and the open one has 600 seats, it played an important role in enriching the artistic movement in Egypt, as it includes the Cairo Opera Ballet, the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, the National Troupe of Arab music, and the modern theater dance troupe. The Opera holds cultural salons, art exhibitions, and summer music festivals for amateur ensembles, as well as showcases the works of leading international artists and ensembles of various directions. On Wednesday, April 25, the first concerts of the Egyptian Opera House were held at the King Fahd Cultural Center in Riyadh, under the auspices of the Saudi and Egyptian ministers of culture.
Opera cultural centers
Palace of Arts: The Palace of Arts is located in the Egyptian Opera House Square, and it is based on the same land that was occupied by the great Nile Hall, which was one of the Saraya of the Exhibition Grounds on the island and was designed by Mustafa Pasha Fahmy, as it was used by the Royal Agricultural Society in the presentations of the Agricultural Industrial Exhibition. In 1980, a decision was issued to turn these Sarai into a plastic arts hall and it was opened in 1984 during the first session of the Cairo International Biennale.due to the cracks caused by the Cairo earthquake in 1992, it was closed, and then reopened again in 1998 after development and restoration and was named the palace of Arts. The building consists of four floors, including several exhibition halls, including two main halls on the ground floor, a set of side halls on the first floor located on both sides of the main hall, in addition to halls for film screenings, lectures and conferences, and an art library, one of the largest art libraries in Egypt, which provides the highest level of research services to all segments of art students, researchers, critics and journalists for free, and this library also includes an Information Technology club to serve the masses of researchers by providing various information media. Since its opening in its new dress, the palace has been hosting the largest and most important local and international art events organized by the plastic arts sector, including the National Exhibition, the youth salon, the Cairo International Biennale, the international ceramics Biennale, and the graphic triennial.
The Opera's musical library and an attached art exhibition hall.
The creative arts center of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture.
The large theater for large operatic and musical performances, all of which are official, has been equipped with fire safety and has a capacity of 1200 seats.
Small theater: located behind the open stage, it has its entrance and several exits that allow the entry and exit of wooden boxes to give space for the stage and seats next to it. The design was designed to be a music auditorium, as it is characterized by the presence of curves in its walls to ensure the best distribution and repetition of sound inside the theater. The small theater has five hundred wheelchair seats, all of which are located on the ground area. The dimensions of the theater are ideal for accommodating a certain number of artists, as it has a width of 13 meters and a depth of 7 meters (13 m × 7 M). it is also suitable for Chamber Orchestra concerts and small recitals. it can also be used for conferences and various cultural events and seats can be moved, but the hall can be completely converted into a huge reception hall for important official events.
Outdoor theater
it is dedicated to summer and youth performances and has a capacity of about 600 seats between fixed stands and movable seats to enable viewers to move freely and enjoy the outdoors on Summer Nights. The open-air theater is characterized by an oriental character in its style, and the central area of the theater takes the form of a square that is lower in level than the area around the square. The open-air theater area for accommodating moveable seats for spectators takes the form of a low Square in the center, surrounded by four ribs of graduated Heights from the center. The activity of this theater reaches its peak at summer festivals, where colors of light music are presented on its platform, concerts of Egyptian and Arab singers, as well as performances of foreign bands, folk music festivals, cultural seminars, such as the celebration of World Environment Day and more
Fountain theater:
Opera House Museum:
the Opera House Museum is located on the first floor of the main building of the Opera House, and inside it contains two wings: the first is for the Old Opera House until the date of its burning, and this Wing tells the story of the creation of the ancient opera, as it was built in six months with Egyptian hands and Italian designs. The museum has rare photos of the Opera Fire, photos of the Opera Theater, its facade and important places in IT, photos of the most important performances that were presented on its stage, a market for what it looked like, and a market for the facade of the Old Opera Theater. The story of Aida's opera is also told through the most important designs for clothes, ornaments, and some musical notes of this opera. The second wing is special for the new opera house and includes several posters for the most important performances that were presented on its three stages, and some brochures issued on the occasion of the visit of some famous artistic teams to the Opera House, and also contains a holographic model of the new building and some photographs of the Opera building at the time of construction.
Plastic arts hall: attached to the Opera House building is a plastic arts hall consisting of two floors that have been designed in an advanced way, and the area of each floor is 120 m.the lighting has been distributed in a scientific way that allows it to be changed with each exhibition and according to what each artwork requires in the form that its specialists and experienced workers see. The Hall specializes in holding collective and individual art exhibitions of many Egyptian and international plastic artists to spread the movement of plastic art and public taste and keep pace with the global art movement. The artistic activity held in this hall is completed by making recording tapes as a documentation process for the most important exhibitions held there and they are kept inside the music library for use by students of art colleges and connoisseurs of art. Since the opening of the Opera House in 1988, many important exhibitions have been held in the hall, including the annual exhibition of the World Photographic Competition, which is held by the Netherlands, as well as exhibitions of the great pioneers of the plastic movement in Egypt in all types of Arts and all art schools such as impressionism, realism, surrealism, symbolism, Cubism and other schools. The Plastic Arts Hall also hosts an exhibition of Arabic calligraphy art annually, in addition to participating in international biennials, triennials, Festivals, International Cultural weeks, and various events such as the Year of Egypt/Italy and International Women's Day. A new Hall has been opened belonging to the plastic arts hall, the music library hall, which consists of two floors and is characterized by its circular shape, and its exhibition space accommodates more than 70 works of art. It allows visitors to the exhibition to get acquainted with the library of books and tapes of all opera activities.
Talent Development Center: the Educational Center for Talent Development was established in April 1992 based on one of the recommendations of the (opera and prospects) conference held at the Egyptian Opera House. The center aims to promote artistic taste and adopt talented people in various fields of the arts. The center includes several departments: the opera studio, piano department, classical ballet department, choir department to teach operatic singing, Suzuki Department to teach violin instruments, and the Department of Music and Arabic singing. In addition to these sections, the center teaches solfege and musical notation reading, there is also a class for classical music, another for drawing, and several classes for people with special abilities, and these classes and sections have extended to the Alexandria Opera House and Damanhour Opera House. Teaching at the educational center is carried out by a group of specialized university professors and teachers with experience and high efficiency. The center is keen on teaching modern technical techniques through visiting foreign experts, such as Japanese violist Takeshi Kuba Yashi, who visited Egypt in 1993 and 1994, and who introduced the Suzuki method of playing the violin in Egypt. This method depends on the development of the child's special abilities and talents from the technical and creative point of view using scientific methods and also helps to facilitate the acquisition of information because it depends on concentration and memory strengthening. At the end of each study session, the center holds parties for students of different classes, to encourage them and appreciate their efforts during the study period. The center held its first Talent concert in December 1993, after which it continued to participate in various celebrations organized by the Opera House on various national, religious, and social occasions.
Local ensembles of the Egyptian Opera House
Cairo Symphony Orchestra: the Cairo Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1959 by the Austrian Franz litschauer, and after several months the orchestra began to perform concerts at the Old Opera House regularly, its activities included presenting symphony concerts and accompanying local and foreign opera and ballet ensembles, including the Bolshoi, the Kirov and the Royal Ballet in London. In 1990, the Cairo Symphony Orchestra joined the Egyptian Opera House, and the orchestra's activities were concentrated in the framework of symphonic music concerts, which opened new horizons for a vast repertoire and a larger number of concerts presented, so the orchestra's repertoire included works by Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, Ravel, Debussy, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and others. Throughout its history, the orchestra has participated in several successful festivals, including the "Arab trends festival, Beethoven Festival, and twentieth-century music festival", and organized international workshops for conducting the orchestra, followed by many international conductors such as Charles Munch, Carlo Zaki, Ottokar trulik, Ole Schmidt, Yehudi Menuhin, Gennady rodstvensky, Janusz Kukla, Patrick fournelier and others. His concerts were attended by many famous World soloists such as Rudolf Buchbinder, Abdurrahman Pasha, George Demos, Ramzi Yesi, Andrei Navara, mestislav Rostropovich, Victoria Busenikova, Stefan Flader, and Kristin Altenberger. The orchestra also conducted a lot of successful artistic tours, during which he toured most of the countries of the world. The Cairo Symphony Orchestra plays a vital role in the development of contemporary Egyptian music and the encouragement of Egyptian composers, soloists, and conductors.
Cairo Opera Ballet Troupe: the troupe was founded in 1966 and was affiliated with the Higher Ballet Institute and its members were trained by experts from the Soviet Union. The troupe gave its first performance in the same year, the ballet "The Fountain of Bakhchisarai", directed by the then-director of the Bolshoi Theater Leonid Lavrovsky, to the music of the Soviet composer Boris Asafiev. In its beginnings, the troupe was influenced by Russian and classical ballet, where the troupe relied on classical performances in one act such as Giselle, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Bakhita. Then the need arose to search for a unique personality for the band to have its distinction and identity in addition to presenting contemporary performances, so the contemporary line began to appear in the band's works through Egyptian directors and choreographers. This was demonstrated when the ballet Osiris was presented to the composer Gamal Abdel Rahim in 1984, the temple of music by the artist Intisar Abdel Fattah, and choreography by Yusra Salim. The ballet troupe started performing outside Egypt in 1972, starting in Moscow and Leningrad, and then performing in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Germany, France, and Tunisia. Among the Egyptian works presented by the troupe are the Egyptian steps ballet, music by Atiya Sharara, and the Nile ballet, which was presented in 1990 at the Opera House to the music of Omar Khairat. The Cairo Ballet joined the Opera House Group in January 1991 and became known as the "Cairo Opera Ballet".
Cairo Opera Choir: the Cairo Opera Choir was founded in 1956 and initially consisted of eighty singers. He has performed many musical works during the artistic seasons of the Egyptian Opera House. He also took part in many symphonic concerts, the choir was conducted by many famous conductors such as Ettore Cordoni, Vittorio Barberi, and Adriano Grossi.
The Cairo Opera Troupe: officially formed in April 1964, it presented a series of outstanding performances and continued its successes until the opera house burned down in 1971 and the troupe struggled to keep this art alive by performing at the Republic and Sayed Darwish theaters in Alexandria until the new opera was opened in 1988 and new voices appeared, including Sobhi Badir, Reda al-Wakil, Iman Mustafa, Nevin Allouba and Hanan El-Gendy to complete the message and its repertoire includes 32 masterpieces of international literature.
Cairo Opera Orchestra: established in 1994 to accompany ballet performances and the participation of the Cairo Opera and Cairo opera ballet troupes, in addition to presenting a concert series entitled "gala concert", during which several conductors and soloists from different countries of the world are hosted to provide an opportunity for communication between soloists and Egyptian leaders with distinguished foreign counterparts.
Choral a cappella: founded in 1999, the choir has performed many successful works and concerts. The choir played an active role in accompanying the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, where together they were able to present the main works written for choir and orchestra such as Handel's "Messiah", Mozart's"Requiem", Verdi's Ninth Symphony, Beethoven's"Requiem", Mahler's Second Symphony and Brahms's"German Requiem". Handel's oratorio mass (December 2000) is one of the most successful works in which both the orchestra and the choir collaborated.
Egyptian Modern Theater Dance Troupe: the troupe was established in 1993, and presented its first work "The Fall of Icarus" at the opening of the Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theater in its fourth session. the modern theater dance troupe is the first of its kind in Egypt and the Arab world. it has achieved great success by dealing with specialized topics in Egyptian and Arab Arts and civilization and has presented more than 26 artistic performances. The band's repertoire includes the following performances: "the fall of Icarus", "excavations called Agatha", the Egyptian trilogy: "The Coma-the Last interview-the Desert of Shadi Abdus Salam", "elephants hide to Die", "at first it was Dancing", "rehearsal", "whale song", "Shadow guard", "Scheherazade Korsakov", "secrets of Samarkand", "life jacket under the seat", "Mahmoud Mukhtar and the winds of the fifties". The band has received several awards and has represented Egypt in many specialized international festivals, including Carthage International Festival in Tunisia, Chang Mu Festival in Korea, Bruges Festival in Belgium, Contemporary Dance Festival in Casablanca, Rabat International Festival, Reclinghausen Festival in Germany, as well as in the Sultanate of Oman. The troupe has conducted artistic tours in Italy and China, where it has performed several performances featuring its repertoire and received recognition from theater and dance critics in the most important international newspapers and magazines.
Abdul Halim Noueirah Band for Arabic Music: established in 1967 under the leadership of Maestro Abdul Halim Noueirah under the name "Arabic Music Band to Revive the Authentic Musical Heritage", Abdul Halim Noueirah led the band from its inception until his death in January 1985, and then the band was named after him in recognition of his efforts to form this band. The band includes about fifty male and female singers with distinguished voices and forty musicians. The band presents the various traditional forms, and lyrical and musical templates to the audience of connoisseurs of Arabic music, including moushah, poem, role, taqtooqa, and theatrical melodies. The band has performed in a large number of Arab countries and some European countries such as France, Spain, and Turkey. The band has also participated in many festivals, including the Jerash Festival in Jordan, the Medina and Carthage festivals in Tunisia, the Asila and Rabat festivals in Morocco, the Mouche Festival in Casablanca, and the Umm Kulthum centennial in Paris.
The National Band of Arab Music: founded in 1989, to collect the Arab musical and singing heritage, and re-presenting it in an advanced academic and scientific style. The solo performance is performed by an elite group of musicians and singers of this color from the artists of the Arab countries. The band has achieved many successes at the local and international levels with its distinctive style.40 days after its establishment, the band won the silver medal at the Babylon Music Festival in 1989, which included 45 countries from all over the world. The band gave concerts at the Carthage Festival in Tunisia (July 1990), the National Independence Day of the state of Kuwait (1991), the Silk Road Festival in Japan (May 1991), the Rabat Festival in 1993, the glowing festival in France (October 1994), the Royal Hall in Britain (July 1997).
Religious singing band: founded by the late musician Abdel Halim Nouira in 1972 to preserve the religious singing heritage from extinction. It is the only band in the Arab Republic of Egypt that specializes in presenting traditional and contemporary religious works and melodies, and the band also presents young voices trained to sing to the arena of religious prayers. The band started its performances at the Syed Darwish Theater in the Pyramid with 16 singers and about 25 musicians, until today the number of singers has reached about 30 singers and 40 musicians. The band has performed in almost all governorates of Egypt and has met with great success and participated in more than one international festival of religious singing: the festival of religious music for the Mediterranean countries in Marseille (France), the festival of singing and praise in the kingdom of Morocco in Rabat and the festival of music and singing in Poland. the band has achieved great success in all these international festivals.
The Arab Heritage music ensemble: it was established with the aim of reviving the heritage of Arabic music and presenting various traditional forms, lyrical and musical templates to the audience and connoisseurs of Arabic music such as moushah, poem, role, taqtooqa, monologue, and theatrical melodies, through a group of musicians and singers from Heritage keepers with outstanding performance at the collective and individual level. The band performed its first concerts on the stage of the Arab Music Institute in 2004 and then continued its artistic activity inside and outside Egypt.
The Alexandria Opera Troupe for Arabic Music: founded in June 2004 and consists of 55 artists, including choir, soloists, and soloists, it gave its first concerts at the Republic Theater in Cairo, participated in the Arab music festival in the year of its foundation, presented many performances for children and students and participates in various national events and celebrations organized by the Opera House, in addition to its contribution to the commemoration of the symbols of Arabic music and singing.
Regional branches of the Opera House
Alexandria Opera House (Sidi Darwish Theater).
Damanhur Opera House.
Theater of the Republic.
The Roman theater.
Institute of Arabic Music.
Mohammed Abdul Wahab Museum.
